In Chapter 10 of Who Are We? Huntington talks about how the collapse of the Soviet Union weakened American identity. He cited examples of how nations and states often need an enemy to survive. One example of this is the Roman Republic. This is reminiscent of the rally around the flag effect, in which the general public gathers around national leaders and throws support at them in times where the nation feels threatened or attacked by outside sources. Without anyone for the US to fight, will it turn on itself? Does this say something about a human tendency to always need an enemy?
The chapter also touches on the fact that there are growing differences in interests between elites of the U.S. and the general public. This is a major issue because elites are making many decisions for our country, especially in foreign policy. Foreign relations and interactions are supposed to reflect the interest of the people, like all government decisions. However, there is a chance that this is not happening, and there is a disconnect between what the people want and what is actually happening, even in a democratic system. Is there a fair way to fix this issue?
He argues that elites living abroad and working with other countries can lose their national identity. Not fully, but over time, they are more disconnected from the culture and the interests of their home. Often they are influencing politics in another country in order to work in favor of the interests of the home country. However, that is a tricky game that doesn’t always work in the right direction. Also, Huntington argues that culture is really what shapes national identity now, and being immersed in another culture and disconnected form your own can greatly shape the decisions you make, and keep you from your national identity.
2 replies on “Huntington Chapter 10 ERA”
I think you have presented an excellent summary of the issues that Huntington raises and the questions that he poses in chapter 10. I am specifically interested in the questions “Without anyone for the US to fight, will it turn on itself?” and “Does this say something about a human tendency to always need an enemy?”
I am trying to answer the second question. I know in my personal life, I do just fine without a specific enemy I am constantly fighting and thinking about. I do not know anyone personally who is purely or even mostly motivated by a struggle against a particular person or a group of people. You could make the argument that someone’s enemy could be an idea, like a religious ideology, a political opinion, or a different way of life, and that everyone is in conflict with the opposite of whatever their identity is, but I think this would be a hard case to make. Some people are very open-minded and not adversarial that its hard to imagine opposition to someone being their true motivation.
Maybe the question becomes different when you are talking about group identity. Maybe group identities need to exist in opposition to other groups in order to stay strong and relevant. This would make sense with the examples of warring tribes, rival countries, religious wars, and other conflicts of this sort. However, did my Boy Scout Troop exist in opposition to the Girl Scouts or in opposition to the other troops in the area? Probably not.
What do you think about this? I’m skeptical about whether we need enemies on the small scale but I am convinced of the value of having enemies on a large scale.
Oliver,
You bring up a lot of interesting points. It is challenging to speculate about human nature, because often there isn’t only one answer, but I really like your theory about this phenomenon possibly happening on a large scale but not a small one. I agree that in my daily life, I feel no need to find enemies and destroy them. However, on a day to day basis, people do and always have had a need to complete tasks and overcome obstacles. We’re programmed to survive, and to do that, we need to complete many simple tasks, such as find food and shelter every day, etc. Even though this is man vs. nature, it is a stretch to call nature an enemy. Furthermore, these days the struggle for survival is not like this. However, every functioning human completes tasks every day, overcomes varying sized obstacles, and even finds pleasure in doing this work. Perhaps this evolutionary tendency on an individual scale leads to an enhanced version of this on a group level? Let me know what you think about this, and anything else related to this topic.